Rempel will direct the academic partnership between Conrad Grebel University College and TST and the student programs of TMTC. He and other Grebel faculty will teach Mennonite and Anabaptist courses in the graduate programs of TST, continuing the tradition established by Dr. Jim Reimer more than twenty years ago. Rempel will also mentor Mennonite students at TST, organize forums and conferences with TMTC students, and communicate the TMTC vision and activities to the public.
Dr. Jim Pankratz, Dean of Conrad Grebel University College, said:
We are thrilled to welcome John Rempel as Director of TMTC. He is highly regarded at Grebel and familiar with TST. He has rich experience as a chaplain, pastor, MCC representative, and seminary professor. Those who know John will understand why we are confident that his deep commitment to students and to the Church and his wide-ranging expertise in Mennonite theology will enrich the TMTC student community and raise the profile of Mennonite and Anabaptist studies at TST.
Rempel is fascinated by the intersection of Anabaptist ways of thinking with the broader world of TST and University of Toronto.
I am excited by the prospect of ongoing conversations with graduate students whose identity is formed at that intersection.
Having spent many years in New York City in the midst of church encounters with many religious and secular worldviews, as well as some years at AMBS within an intensely Mennonite community,
Rempel looks forward to bringing that experience
into the encounter with many worldviews and out of that be a resource to the Mennonite Church.
Reflecting on TMTC founder, Jim Reimer’s contribution to TMTC, Rempel states:
My understanding of Jim's dream is threefold. Jim's vision was to provide a Mennonite point of reference and community for graduate students, to challenge Mennonites to speak their understanding of being Christian into a cosmopolitan world, as well as learning from it, within TST as well as University of Toronto as a whole, and finally, to model the inner unity between scholarship and piety.
Conrad Grebel is very thankful for the recent coordinators of TMTC - Jonathan Seiling, Christina Reimer, and Sarah Freeman - who kept the student program at TMTC active and vital during the past four years. Pankratz predicts that
John will build on what they have done and in addition will greatly increase our teaching and mentoring role at TST.